Ed Lopat

Quotes About Lopat
"He looks like he's throwing wads of tissue paper. Every time he wins a game, fans come out of the stands asking for contracts." — Casey Stengel

Played For
Chicago White Sox (1944-1947)
New York Yankees (1948-1955)
Baltimore Orioles (1955)

Managed
Kansas City Athletics (1963-1964)

Best Season: 1953
Though he pitched less frequently in '53 than in other seasons, Lopat was very, very effective. He led the American League with a 2.42 ERA in 178 1/3 innings. He won 16 games, the 10th straight season he reached double-digits in wins.

Full Bio
Eddie Lopat didn't automatically get respect, the way a Bob Feller or Nolan Ryan does. His stuff just wasn't impressive, even when it was working -- which was almost always. Eddie had to earn his respect, every time out, because his pitches did just enough to get batters out, and no more. Perhaps his background as a hitter (his first few years in the minors were as a first-baseman) enabled him to better understand hitter's weaknesses, but for whatever reason, he was able to consistently find and exploit weaknesses -- particularly against the Cleveland Indians.

Eddie "The Junkman" Lopat relished his nickname because he wanted batters to underestimate him. When he got a batter out, he was unlikely to get credit for the success. Instead, the batter blame himself: "What's wrong with me?" Unlike most of the pitchers who end up relying on junk, Lopat had never been fast. Like a Woody Allen, a Dangerfield, Lopat constantly underplayed his strengths. His sharpest barbs were hidden behind a veil of self-deprecation. Three or four times a game, though, when he really needed it, Lopat blew his below-average fastball right by a drowsy batter.

Lopat's career record versus the Indians was a staggering 40-12. He owned them. He beat Cleveland the first 9 times he faced them. In 1954, the year that Cleveland won a record 111 games, Lopat beat them five times. It got so bad that Cleveland sold rabbit's feet on the nights that Lopat pitched. Once, after Eddie had won 11 straight against the Tribe, a Cleveland fan ran onto the field and hurled a black cat at Lopat. Eddie caught the frightened cat, cuddled it a bit, handed it to an usher, and went on to beat Cleveland for the 12th time in a row.

The Tribe is a slugging team -- it's as much a part of their identity now as it was then. Free-swinging and powerful. Eddie The Junkman tossed them his Nothing Ball, his assortment of slow curves and slop curves, his wide variety of change-ups, and he allowed the Indians to get themselves out. He merely gave them enough rope. They took care of the hangings.

Eddie's favorite victory against the Indians came when they tried to beat him at his own game. It was hot day in Cleveland, and Lopat and a few of his teammates decided to head down to the stadium early to escape their stifling hotel. They arrived at 4:00 for an 8:00 game, and were surprised to see the Tribe taking batting practice two hours before the customary time. They had Sad Sam Zoldak out on the mound, another soft-tossing lefty, and they were practicing the art of merely punching Lopat-like slow curves to the opposite field. The right-handers would knock the soft-curves over the second baseman's head, lefties over the shortstop. Over and over, they would rap these soft-little knocks, never once taking the type of hearty, from-the-heels full-cut that had led to so many losses.

The problem was that Eddie saw the whole thing. When his catcher, Yogi Berra, arrived at the park, Lopat told him the scoop: No slow-balls today, Yogi. Don't even call for 'em. Fastballs and sliders only. And the first time through the lineup, that's how it was. Lopat acted like some other man, some man gifted with velocity...but he wasn't gifted with velocity. Lopat's fastballs and sliders were the sort of pabulum that Cleveland would normally feast on, but these new Indians were geared for the other Eddie Lopat; The Junkman. What they got instead was Eddie The Adequate, and they were crossed up. They didn't score.

After he'd been though the line-up once, the Indians switched to their normal method, and Eddie returned to his normal "Now-you-see-'em, now-you-don't routine." He won, again, by a score of 5-3. It was years before the Indians knew that Lopat had spied on them.

— Kirk Robinson

As a Manager
The woeful A's were 90-124 (.421) in Lopat's season-and-a-half at the helm. He was replaced in 1964 by the immortal Mel McGaha (really).

Born
Edmund Walter Lopat was born on June 21, 1918, in New York, NY.

Died
June 15, 1992, Darien, CT

Batted:  Left
Threw:  Left

Primary Position:  P

Primary Team:  NYA

Major League Debut
April 30, 1944

Nine Other Players Who Debuted in 1944
Eddie Yost
Eddie Lopat
Joe Nuxhall
Granny Hamner
Gene Mauch
Emil Verban
Jim Konstanty
Cal McLish
Ralph Branca

Nicknames
Lope, Junkman, Eddie the Adequate

Uniform Numbers
#48 (1944-1947), #30 (1948-1955 Yankees), #15 (1955 Orioles)

Similar Players
Art Nehf, Jeff Pfeffer

Related Players
Allie Reynolds, Vic Raschi

Hall of Fame Voting Year Election Votes Pct 1968 BBWAA 2 .7% 1969 BBWAA 2 .6% 1970 BBWAA 1 .3% 1971 BBWAA 4 1.1% 1972 BBWAA 2 .5%

Post-Season Appearances
1949 World Series
1950 World Series
1951 World Series
1952 World Series
1953 World Series

Post-Season Notes
Lopat posted a 4-1 record in seven post-season starts, with a 2.60 ERA.

Notes
Lopat was a decent hitter in the early portion of his 12-year career. From 1944-1946, he hit .284 with one homer and 29 RBI in 250 at-bats. He was able to put the ball in play throughout his career, striking out just 92 times in 887 career at-bats. He struggled at the plate after joining the Yanks, finishing with a lifetime .211 average.

Transactions
February 24, 1948: Traded by the Chicago White Sox to the New York Yankees for Bill Wight, Fred Bradley, and Aaron Robinson; July 30, 1955: Traded by the New York Yankees to the Baltimore Orioles for Jim McDonald.

All-Star Selections
1951 AL

Replaced
Lopat joined the White Sox rotation in 1944, filling in during the wartime shortage of players.

Replaced By
Bob Turley and a few others nudged the aging Lopat from the Yankee rotation in 1955.

Best Strength as a Player
His repertoire of pitches, all of them looping, slow, and elusive.

Largest Weakness as a Player
Velocity

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